Chapter 206

“Ahaha…” With his pity-play plan poked straight through by Rowan, Banner let out two awkward, sheepish laughs.

Then he quickly staged a “fake death.” His body crumbled into sand and vanished, and his soul, now a small orb of light, dove into the belly of his fat cat Pharaoh to hide his embarrassment.

One last voice was left hanging in the air.

“Then I leave the rest to you, meow.”

“…” Rowan, Alexis, Jaden, and the others all sweat-dropped at the sight.

Apart from that blond, mushroom-headed Professor Crowler, could there be any less reliable duel instructor than this?

“Whoom!!”

Almost at the very moment the squinty-eyed professor left, the last Spirit Key that Rowan had handed to him also dissolved into a faint glimmer and disappeared.

“Rumble!!”

The next second, the ground all around the forest began to shake violently.

Pillars of light burst from the earth in the distance one after another and shot into the sky, seven in total, matching the number of Spirit Keys.

Before long, seven enormous, jagged stone pillars slowly emerged from within them.

Like a magic circle, they marked out an irregular ring around the vast forest!

“What’s happening?!” Alexis and the others cried out in alarm, looking around in confusion.

“Kuri kuri!”

The round Kuriboh popped out at once and cried a warning to Rowan.

It pointed with its stubby little arm at the clearing not far ahead, where Banner had dueled Chazz and Jaden just moments ago.

“Something extremely dangerous is coming up from underneath that spot!”

Ishizu, the Gravekeeper’s Assailant, spoke urgently in Rowan’s ear.

“Looks like it must be the cards of the sealed Sacred Beasts.”

Rowan nodded in understanding, already guessing the answer.

All of the Spirit Keys had now fallen into the seal, and the Spirit Gates’ seal was clearly beginning to break.

Which meant the cards that housed the Sacred Beasts were about to emerge!

“Rumble!!”

Before Alexis and the others, who had heard Rowan’s words, could even ask him for details, another violent tremor rang out from the clearing ahead.

Sand and soil flew up, and a small polygonal stone platform slowly rose from the ground, trembling.

Three lights flared on its surface, then merged into a single mass of energy. Out of it, three cards appeared from nowhere, wrapped in the glow!

Even from this distance, Rowan could easily sense the immense power sealed within those three cards!

Compared to Ishizu, the Gravekeeper’s Assailant, who could only materialize briefly for him at present, that power was clearly stronger by who knows how many times over!

“Those are… the cards the Sacred Beasts inhabit?!”

Alexis covered her mouth in shock, eyes wide as she stared at the mass of energy in the distance!

Even though she had not yet awakened the ability to see Duel Spirits, she could feel that deeply ominous aura all the same!

Jaden, Chazz, who had finally come to, and Atticus, all propped up by Syrus and Chumley, stared in shock at the energy on the little stone platform.

And at the three cards inside it!

“Rowan, Alexis, what happened here?!”

Just then, a familiar voice called out anxiously from nearby.

It was bald Chancellor Sheppard, along with Professor Crowler, Bastion, and Zane Truesdale. They had heard the enormous commotion and come running all the way here.

They soon spotted the mass of light on the stone platform not far off, and those three fearsome cards.

“The seal on the Sacred Beasts… has been broken!”

Bald Chancellor Sheppard looked as though he had been struck by lightning. He nearly collapsed, crouching down and clutching his bald head…

Of all times, this worst of all situations had come to pass during his tenure as Chancellor!

“How is this possible? Could it be that Rowan also lost a Shadow Duel to the last Seven Stars Shadow Duelist?”

Zane Truesdale said in some surprise.

He had not dueled Rowan yet, but he had seen Rowan’s strength on quite a few occasions!

And if Rowan had really lost a Shadow Duel, he should not be standing there without a scratch on him.

“Because I never dueled him at all. That last Seven Stars Shadow Duelist used Chazz and Senior Atticus as hostages, and threatened me into handing the Spirit Key straight over.”

Rowan spread his hands with a helpless look and answered the confusion of Zane and the others.

Chazz and Atticus froze on hearing this, then grew quite moved.

They had been wondering how they had gotten out in the first place.

“I see. Please, don’t take it to heart. This is not your fault, Rowan!”

Bald Chancellor Sheppard nodded at once in understanding.

The look he gave Rowan was full of reassurance.

As if urging him not to blame himself!

Only Alexis, Jaden, Syrus, and the others who knew the real story wore strange expressions as they looked at Rowan, and at the Duel Academy PDA in his hand.

For a moment, they did not know whether they should reveal what had actually happened…

That guy Rowan had been “threatened”?

He had clearly gone and shaken the other side down!

Though in fairness, part of the reason he had handed that last Spirit Key to Professor Banner really had been the hostages…